… Alpha United still recovering from an 8-0 mauling by Herediano of Puerto Rico
UNDOUBTEDLY Guyana’s top football team Alpha United, recovering from an 8–0 defeat by a superior opponent, Herediano of Puerto Rico, in the 2011 CONCACAF Championship League on Tuesday night, are hoping to put on a better show against the same team in the return match at the Guyana National Stadium next Thursday. President of the club, Odinga Lumumba, said Alpha United’s goal will be to survive as they don’t expect to win, since, from his football knowledge, that would be impossible. Alpha United would need to win 9-0 to progress to the next round.
The match was a historic one for either side since it was the first match to be played in the recently constructed stadium. For Alpha United, it was the first time any Guyanese team had participated in a tournament of such high level.
According to Lumumba, that stadium held over 16 000 fans who witnessed the showdown.
During the interview with the Alpha boss, he said “we were beaten badly but I don’t think it is anything to be ashamed of since this was a team that has been to the World Cup thrice. However, the calibre of the team was unexpected: it was an extremely powerful team; a world level team that owns its own stadium which is very important”.
He continued: “Their football was a different level of football; we were four or five levels below this team. It tells a lot of where we are in football internationally which is way behind Puerto Rico.”
“I wasn’t upset with the team, I actually saw them try their best but you can see they had no capacity to deal with this team. Especially in the second half when they brought in two Brazilian forwards who were unstoppable and they were attacking in waves. I admired how the team was playing, it was some of the best football I have ever seen and I think Guyana should come out and witness it for themselves”
Lumumba added: “If wasn’t for Ronson Williams and Chris Camacho we would have gotten beaten about 20-nil, the defence was mincemeat and we couldn’t cope.
But it was good experience as we learned a lot and we know our capacity in Guyana and we know what we have to work towards. We have a long way to go.”